“Advanced Technologies for Virtual Environments” by Whitton, Bishop, Brooks Jr., England, Fuchs, et al. …

Conference:

• SIGGRAPH 1997
• More from SIGGRAPH 1997:
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Type(s):

• E-Tech

Entry Number: 27

Title:

Advanced Technologies for Virtual Environments

Program Title:

Electric Garden

Presenter(s):

• Mary C. Whitton
• Gary Bishop
• Frederick (Fred) P. Brooks Jr.
• Nick England
• Henry Fuchs
• Anselmo A. Lastra
• Dinesh Manoch
• John Poulton
• Russell Taylor

Project Affiliation:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Description:

Walkthrough
Interactive visualizations for design of complex environments containing millions of primitives, such as those of houses and ships, are severely limit- ed by the frame rates obtainable using current graphics workstations. Use of advanced model-management techniques to reduce model complexity, while retaining essential visual information, makes interactive walk- throughs feasible. In this interactive experience, the user walks through a very large, complex model. It illustrates a variety of model-management techniques, such as visibility culling, dynamic tessellation of higher-order surfaces, static and dynamic model simplification, and textured impostors, to enable rendering at interactive rates.

http:/ /www.cs.unc.edu/~walk

nanoManipulator
The nanoWorkbench adds a PHANToM force-feedback device to a rear- projected display to allow the user to touch the objects that are displayed. This overlay of the visual with haptic spaces provides the sense of a solid object that can be prodded and molded by the user. The nanoManipulator system is connected to an atomic-force microscope to allow participants to move, bend, and stack “bucky tubes” on a sub-micron playing field.

http:/ /www.cs.unc.edu/Research/nano.

Additional Images:

PDF:

• Advanced Technologies for Virtual Environments

Overview Page:

SIGGRAPH 1997: Electric Garden